14 June 2008

Written in Stone

Have you ever made a stepping stone? We got a kit as a present almost a year ago and we just got around to doing the project recently. Boy was it the perfect project for my guy. Believe it or not, after making the one in our kit, I went to the hardware store and bought a 60-pound bag of cement and we made a bunch more stones for the Grandmothers and Aunts for Mother's Day. We got so involved in that big project I forgot to take pictures of those stones before we gave them out. I'll have to track them down in their various new garden homes to take pictures of our handiwork. But we didn't even stop there -- when my husband had a concrete pour at one of his job sites we pulled out our stepping stone molds again and "borrowed" some of the leftover to make even more stones. Those ones I think we'll try painting.

Here's a look at Jack's first stone-making adventure:

mixing...

scooping...

spreading...

pressing "treasures" in the setting cement (these particular treasures were slipper shells we collected on our favorite beach last summer)

and, finally, signing the stone with a hand print...

...and a name.

You know, there's something so powerful and timeless about writing in stone. I mean, just think about those cave paintings and carvings that have survived intact over 25,000 years. Our prehistoric ancestors went to great lengths to make their marks on those cave walls. They actually had to crawl on their bellies through narrow tunnels carrying flaming torches balancing bowls of paint carefully mixed from over a hundred different minerals. What a testament to people's burning desire to write. Our innately human need to make marks that say "I was here" and "this is my story."

Kids have that burning desire too. From chocolate pudding on the high chair to chalk on the sidewalk, children are driven to make their mark. The fun is in finding new ways every day to make those meaningful marks. For a couple of weeks around here, our favorite medium was stone.

1 Comment

I made some concrete handprints of my toddlers some years ago, intending to use them when we "did" the garden...at that stage we were still building the house! Well they are still tucked away and we are finally doing the garden (5 years later...) so THANK YOU for this reminder :D
I shall make new tiles and set the old handprints into each child's new tile alongside a new print, I think. Gill.